What’s the best educational drone for a STEM program?

Incorporating a drone into your STEM program is certain to provide not just fodder for your “Teacher of the Year” application, but it’s been proven to get kids interested in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

Environmental science classes can use drones to get aerial views of the environments they’re learning about. Astronomy classes can use multiple drones to create models of the solar systems. Photography and art classes can use drones to actually create their products. And yes, business classrooms can use drones to teach about entrepreneurship (check out what the Girl Scouts did with their cookie delivery drone!).

But with so many drones out there, which should you buy?

The best overall drone for STEM program drone education: The Tello drone by Ryze and DJI

The Tello drone is a $99, kid-friendly drone that combines DJI flight technology and an Intel processor to create a budget camera drone that also can be used to teach newbies the basics of programming.

It’s a great little drone that offers a low-cost introduction to not just flying and shooting videos, but also how to use drones how to code.

Since it’s made in part by DJI, it’s incredibly-high quality. It’s durable, meaning it is able to withstand dozens of tiny hands trying to grab it, and plenty more crashes.

It’s also a great tool for an intro to programming course. The Tello drone includes the Scratch coding platform, which is a programming language targeted at children. Essentially, you can program the drone to fly certain directions based on the “code” you have written.

The drone wins as best overall STEM drone in large part due to its price tag. For $99, you’re getting a camera, a built-in coding program, and an easy-to-fly drone, all in one durable package. The only reason you would want to skip this drone is if you’re looking to build something yourself.

The Tello drone, which weighs just 80 grams, can fly for 13 minutes and shoot 5 megapixel photos. For context, DJI’s next-smallest drone, the DJI Spark, weighs 300 grams, can fly for 16 minutes and shoots 12 megapixel photos. The drone doesn’t come with an RC transmitter, but can be controlled via a mobile app (or an external one can be purchased separately).

The best drone for learning to build and code: The Flybrix LEGO drone

The Flybrix LEGO drone is a kit that consists of LEGOs coupled with other parts you’ll need to build a drone, such as motors, batteries, the receiver and for an additional fee, an RC transmitter.

You build the drone yourself, and you can even program it to fly itself — otherwise you can control its flight via a smartphone or RC transmitter. Keep in mind that, since the drone is made of LEGOs, it’s not easy to fly (ahem, it’s easy to crash). And since it’s made of LEGOs, the crash will likely result in the drone falling apart, forcing you to rebuild it.

If you’re looking for something to primarily fly, skip this one. But if you’re looking for something to build and code, listen up.

Younger kids can use an app to learn computer science basics. That coupled with a Chrome extension allowing smaller pilots to adjust settings and motor tune can be a great computer lesson for elementary or jr. high classes. They can also use the drone itself as a basic circuit class (you’ll have to plug the motors into the right side of the preprogrammed board to prevent it from going the wrong way) or a basic physics class (put the propellers on the right way, or your drone will spin out of control).

But this drone has legs even among high-level high school and college classes, thanks to Flybrix’s brain. It’s an Arduino-compatible, 96Mhz ARM® Cortex-M4 processor that includes a barometer, a magnetometer, several indicator LEDs, ADC converters, SD card slot, bluetooth, and capabilities to add Wi-Fi and GPS modules, and its code is open-source. That leaves tons of opportunities for higher-level engineers to innovate on this LEGO platform.

At $189, it may be harder to justify for classes looking to have a seamless flying experience than the DJI Tello. But if you’re looking for something you can build (or build on), the Flybrix LEGO drone offers far more creative possibilities.

Alternative choices for drones in the classrooms

For teachers who are on a budget but are willing to put in a lot of their own grunt work, you could get away with better drones at a lower price tag.

If you’re ready to cobble together your own drone using separately purchased frames, motors, power distribution boards, etc., you could certainly build a great drone for less than $99.

If you’re looking for a drone with a camera that’s easy to fly (and don’t need the coding/building component), you could also get away with buying a “toy” drone for less than $50. Toy drones like TDR’s Spider Stunt Quadcopter ($39.99) are highly durable (aka crashproof) and fairly easy to fly, making them a great choice if your pure goal is teaching students how to fly drones.

How teachers can save money on drones

DJI’s Education discount can save you 10%: The DJI Educational Discount is a programming allowing anyone with a “.edu” email address to get a coupon code (typically a 10% discount) on a select group of items from its online site. Simply fill out DJI’s online form, wait patiently, and you’ll receive your invite.

Incorporating a drone into your STEM program is certain to provide not just fodder for your “Teacher of the Year” application, but it’s been proven to get kids interested in science, technology, engineering and math fields. A drone is a way to teach real-world examples of coding in action. A drone can demonstrate principles of […] The post What’s the best educational drone for a STEM program? appeared first on The Drone Girl. […] Read More

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